The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said it had intercepted and destroyed 17 booby-trapped drones launched by the Houthis towards the southern region of the kingdom, while dozens were killed as the battles raged between government forces and the Houthis in Marib.
The coalition said - in a statement - that "the interception process was successfully carried out in Yemeni airspace and the hostile attempt was repelled," explaining that "the deliberate and systematic hostile attempts of the Houthis constitute war crimes, and we are taking operational measures to protect civilians from hostile attacks."
The military spokesman for the Houthis in Yemen, Yahya Saree, had announced - in a tweet on Twitter - the implementation of a drone attack on "King Khalid Air Base" in Khamis Mushait, southern Saudi Arabia, and added that "the operation was carried out by a (Qasef 2k) drone, and the injury was accurate. ".
The Houthi group has repeatedly targeted Khamis Mushait and other Saudi cities on the border in the war that has been going on for more than 6 years.
Marib battles
Meanwhile, Yemeni local sources said that two violent explosions were heard in the center of Ma'rib city on Saturday morning, as two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis fell on the city. There was no information about the location of the two missiles or whether they resulted in casualties.
This comes at a time of renewed violent battles in the Serwah district, western Ma'rib governorate, where the Yemeni army announced the killing of at least thirty Houthi fighters during the battles, but the French Press Agency quoted government military sources as saying that 47 people were killed, including 16 pro-government forces.
The Media Center of the Third Military Region of the National Army stated that its forces had shot down four Houthi drones, without mentioning any information about any losses in the ranks of the army, while military sources spoke of the killing of six National Army soldiers.
Members of the forces loyal to the National Army in Marib (Al-Jazeera)
US envoy
Politically, the US State Department said that the special envoy to Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, will return to the United States from Saudi Arabia.
The Foreign Ministry indicated - in a statement - that the American diplomat met in Saudi Arabia with Yemeni and Saudi officials, in addition to the United Nations special envoy Martin Griffiths and representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council, and he also spoke with Omani officials who visited Sanaa.
She said that Linderking stressed the need for the Yemeni government to return to the city of Aden as soon as possible, and highlighted the importance of making rapid progress in implementing the Riyadh Agreement.
The State Department statement added that Lenderking emphasized the efforts made to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire in Yemen, and also stressed the importance of the flow of goods - especially fuel - through the port of Hodeidah and throughout Yemen.